BIG CHIEF: P20M ‘OUT OF MY HANDS’
Morente should have returned the money days ago before Calima was fired — DOJ secretary
According to BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, he can no longer order former acting BI intelligence chief Charles Calima to turn over the P20-M bribe money to the DOJ as Calima no longer works in the bureau
THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) has failed to turn over to the Department of Justice (DOJ) the remaining P20-million alleged extortion money received by one of its former officials from gaming tycoon Jack Lam.
In a memorandum dated Dec. 22, Commissioner Jaime Morente said he can no longer order former acting BI intelligence chief Charles Calima to turn over the money to the DOJ as he no longer works in the bureau.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II had ordered Calima’s dismissal on Dec. 13, three days after the article exposing the anomalies inside the BI was published.
In a department order issued on Wednesday, the DOJ chief had directed Morente to do the following: turn over the P20 million; submit a written report in relation to his compliance with the order; and disclose with the DOJ the copy of the report of the counter-intelligence operations conducted by Calima against officials accepting payoffs in the bureau.
But none of these were submitted by Morente.
“The custody of the money is with the CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) hence, the undersigned could no longer turn-over same to the secretary,” Morente said.
According to the BI chief, he was informed by Calima that he had filed plunder cases against former BI commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles with the Philippine National Police (PNP) – CIDG early yesterday.
After the filing of complaints, Morente said Calima turned over the money amounting to P18 million to the CIDG for safekeeping.
Aguirre in reaction to Morente’s memorandum said that the BI chief should have returned the money days ago before Calima had been terminated from his post.
“I authorized him to do any all things necessary. When I terminated [Calima], he (Morente) should have asked him to turnover to him everything that is to be turned over,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre said he would ask the CIDG to transfer the money to DOJ or National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)–the unit prob- ing the issue–for safekeeping.
Argosino and Robles had earlier turned over to the DOJ the money they allegedly received from Lam as “evidence” on their “clandestine” probe against BI officials, amounting to P30 million.
According to the two, P18 million of the P50 million they received from Lam went to Calima while the P2 million was pocketed by Lam’s associate, former police official Wally Sombrero.
“It is a proof of corruption. It should be surrendered immediately for accounting and safekeeping. The longer it remains unsurrendered, the longer the doubt persist,” Agauirre said.
The anomalies in the BI stemmed from the arrest of 1,316 undocumented Chinese nationals apprehended at Lam’s online gaming operations in Clark, Pampanga.